


Rover

by OptimisticEmotion



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticEmotion/pseuds/OptimisticEmotion
Summary: Batman has a special mission for Conner; take care of Robin's birthday present and don't let Boy Wonder find it before the week is out. This should be easy right? Robin's gone for first few days after all, and Conner has the whole team helping him.





	

Something that some people found shocking, was Superboy was really good with animals. No monkey's mind you, but any other animal and there was an almost instant connection.

Another thing about Superboy, this one not really all that surprising, was that he had never been singled out by Batman before. Not even when he was first discovered. The Bat had always put him with a group, Kryptonian, Kansan, Young Justice Team member, just another one of the gang. And if Conner was honest, he appreciated that.

But that morning, the first word out of Batman's mouth upon enter through the zeta tube was 'Superboy'. The Dark Knight led the clone to a conference room down the hall. Superboy's mind reeled trying to figure out what he did wrong to bring about the Bat's attention.

"Relax, you are not in trouble." Batman must have been able to read him like a book, and how to calm him down.

"Alright, what's this about?" Conner asked, fidgeting slightly.

"I have a favor to ask you." That got him to stand still. Conner looked at Batman, THE Batman in befuddlement wondering if he just heard right.

"I- Sure! What do you need?" Conner asked a bit more excited.

"I need you to keep this safe for me and away from Robin for a week." Batman brought out a black box with holes around the sides from under his cape; which Conner failed to notice was bulged to begin with.

"You want ME to keep something away from ROBIN? You do remember that YOU taught him, right?" Conner asked the acrobat's mentor.

"He's going to be gone for a couple of days, on a trip with a few friends. You'll have at least three days without having to worry about him finding out about it. It's the last two days you'll have to be careful."

"So it's a business week?" Conner asked. Batman didn't respond before he handed the box to Conner, who took it carefully.

The movement had disturbed whatever was inside, it seemed, as the box's weight started to shift about randomly.

"Is it alive?" Conner asked surprised. Batman nodded slowly. Conner set the box on the table and moved to open it, looking to Batman before doing so. The man hadn't moved to stop him so he figured it was allowed.

The moment the top of the box was removed, a furry black head with a white star on the forehead popped up and licked his cheek.

"Wha- It's a pup?" Conner looked over to Batman.

"It's- Robin's birthday- present." The response was said in such an unBatman like way that Conner had to look at the man again. He still seemed the image of dark and scary, but Conner bet if Robin were here he'd point out some wired detail that tells how awkward the Hero really felt., something like his weight shifting or his shoulder's hunching, or his breathing changing. Things that, even when being inspected by the Super clone, wouldn't seem any different than Batman's normal behavior.

"So, what's its name?" Conner looked back to the dog.

"I was hoping to avoid getting it use to a name before Robin has had a chance to train it himself." Batman reached out and grabbed something from under the dog's chin. "However, it seems I was too late." A little silver medallion was held loosely between Batman's gloved fingers and big block letters spelled 'ACE'.

"So 'Ace'?" The dog yipped at its name in confirmation. Superboy smiled and scratched the pooch behind its ear. A little fluffy tail whipped around behind it. "He's a German Shepard, right?" Conner looked to Batman who gave a single nod in confirmation. Conner smiled a bit before Ace barked for his attention again. He liked Batman, as scary as the man was; he was one of the few that understood how Robin could be at such ease around the man. Not that he was himself, but well, he could imagine. "I'll take good care of him," Conner decided.

"I bet you will. I would offer to pay for any, things, you'll need to take care of him, if necessary?" Batman asked.

"I should have enough dog stuff from Wolf. I bet he'd be willing to share, for a while."

"Even so, if there is anything you might need, let either Superman or Black Canary know. They can get a hold of the funds I set aside for, Ace." Batman obviously had difficulty saying the dog's name before he started for the door.

"Alright, I won't let you down!" Conner called out before he went back to giving the pup attention.

* * *

"Anyone know why Supes is holed up in his room?" Kid Flash asked, walking into the living area of the mountain. He was addressing Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Zatanna whom were all sitting around a chess board where Kal and Zan where currently playing.

"No idea," Zatanna admitted, taking Kaldur's rook.

"He went straight there after he had a talk with Batman alone," Kaldur'ahm thought out loud, playing a move he already had planned out. "Perhaps it has something to do with what they were talking about?"

"He had a box with him that I think Batman gave him," Megan added. "He hasn't said what it could be."

"Well, I'm going to find out," Wally decided.

"If he does not wish to be bothered, I would advise leaving him alone," Kaldur said as Zan played another move, trying to through the team's leader off his game.

"Yeah, yeah." And Wally was gone down the hall.

"Conner? Bro, you cool?" Wally asked through Superboy's door. There was almost instantly a yipping of a small dog on the other side of the door that more than obviously NOT Wolf. "Dude?" The yipping stopped. Wally opened the door to the room and looked inside. Conner was sitting in front of his closet door with a shocked look on his face.

"Where's the pup?" Wally asked.

"What pup?" Conner asked back.

"The pup that was barking when I knocked on the door," Wally explained.

"You didn't knock on the door." Conner pointed out.

"Well when I called out to you!" Wally specified.

"Why didn't you knock?" Conner asked.

"Because I was worried about you," Wally explained again.

"I'm fine," Conner assured.

"Gah! I know what you're doing! Rob does it too often for me to fall for it again! Where is the pup that was yipping at the door when I called out?" Wally demanded.

"Wolf is right there." Conner pointed to the big white wolf that was curled up at the foot of Conner's bed. The dog actually looked up at Conner looking scandalized.

"Wolf doesn't bark like a little pup." Wally crossed his arms.

"You heard it through the door," Conner pointed out.

"Well, yes, but-"

"And you don't see any other dog."

"Well, no, but-"

"So why are you so sure that there's another dog?" Conner asked. And with that, the yipping started again, from behind Conner, in the closet.

"HA! I knew it!" Wally exclaimed as he rushed behind Conner and opened the door. "Aww! He's so cute! When did you get him?" Wally asked, looking at the pooch.

Conner sighed in defeat. "Batman brought him to me a couple of hours ago."

"Whoa, dude! You got Batman to get you a puppy? Not even Robin could do that!" Wally shouted.

"Keep your voice down will ya? He's Robin's birthday gift, so Batman wants me to take care of him and keep him a secret from Robin," Conner explained.

"Oh! Man Rob's going to LOVE it! He's been bugging ol' Bats for a dog since he moved in with him!" Wally knelt by the puppy just as Conner asked 'what'?

Wally ignored Conner and reached out to pet the dog, which growled and bit him and started yipping at him as Wally retracted his hand at literally light speed.

"Ouch! You little brat! What'd you do that for?" Wally asked.

"He thinks you were attacking him," Conner said as he reached in and picked the dog up from where he technically threw him before Wally came in. He cradled the black German Shepard in his arm before sitting on the bed next to Wolf. Who stood, jumped down and sat on the floor with his back to his boy.

"Someone's jealous," Wally snickered.

"It's only for a week, he'll deal," Conner shrugged.

"So what's his name?" Wally sat in Wolf's place.

"Ace."

"Oh man that's so cute!" Wally reached over Conner's arm to scratch behind Ace's ear, slower this time, and Ace allowed it.

"Remember, he's a secret, alright?" Conner reminded Wally.

"Pfft, my lips are sealed." Wally brushed it off.

* * *

Conner had Ace in his box as he tried to sneak him out the back door for 'walkies'. Wolf was at his side as he tip toed past the gym rooms. He was so sure of his sneaking ability that he was actually surprised when,

"Hey Conner," Zatanna said with a smile. She was right behind him and probably was the whole time.

"Um. Hi," Conner replied after he his feet hit the ground. He had jumped almost a foot in the air in his startle.

"Whatcha got there?" Zan asked motioning to the box that Conner was holding.

"Nothing," Conner answered, a bit quickly.

"Uh-hu." The girl smirked.

"I'm just talking Wolf outside for a walk," Conner started to walk backwards down the hallway.

"Alright, I'll go with you." Zatanna started to walk after him, her smile growing into a grin on her face.

"That's not necessary," Conner muttered awkwardly as he tried not to trip on Wolf.

"Let me see the pooch already, Clone boy," Zan crossed her arms and cocked her hip.

"Wha- How did you-?" Conner asked stunned, he even stopped walking to Wolf's dismay.

"Well, we do tend to call him 'Kid Mouth'," Zan smirked.

"Wally," Conner growled as he realized the speedster leaked the information. Damn rat.

Zan chuckled for a moment before she started to lead the way to the back and the two of them walked the dogs in a wooded area on the mountain until each pooch had finished their 'business'.

Ace took to Zatanna extremely fast before a rabbit caught his eye and the dog went straight for it. The rabbit also noticed the dog coming its way and ran the opposite direction. Conner immediately went after Ace as fast as he could, but the puppy was FAST.

He finally caught the little black dog by his collar and quickly picked him up. "No, bad Ace. Don't run off." He walked back to see Zan and Wolf sitting in the grass where he left them. "A lot of help you were." He glared at them both. They shared a look before each shrugging.

"You had it handled. Besides, it was funny," Zan smiled. The two of them made their way back into the mountain where Kon swore the girl to secrecy and vowed to make Wally do the same, this time with a bit of friendly encouragement to keep his promise.

* * *

The next day, Conner was trying, really hard to keep Ace entertained, he was, but the puppy was hyper. Conner would have him playing tug-a-war with a rope for hours, but the moment he went to do something else, Ace was tearing something up.

"Will you quit that?" Conner grumbled as he flicked the dog's nose and took the shoe away from him. It wasn't one of his favorites, luckily, but he still put his boots up higher.

Ace yipped at him a couple of times before attacking his pant legs.

"I don't have time for this!" Conner shouted. It seemed to scare the puppy as the dog then curled back on itself and walked back wards a bit. "Aw, I- I didn't mean to scare you. I just, I'm running late." Conner lowered his voice and reached out to pet and comfort the little guy.

"You do know the expression 'Puppy Dog Eyes' is sometimes used to describe one who is faking sadness for sympathy or gain, right?" The voice his team's leader sounded behind him. Conner sighed.

"Wally or Zatanna?" He asked facing Kaldur.

"Actually, Artemis." Kaldur surprised him.

"Artemis knows? Who told her?" Conner asked. Kaldur could only give his friend a shrug. "Great, the whole mountain probably already knows," He grumbled.

Kal cleared his throat. "I came to see if you were going to be training with the team today," he changed the conversation. Conner sighed and picked up Ace.

"Yeah, I'll be right there." No use in hiding the dog in his room when everyone already knew.

"Oh! He's even cuter than you remembered he was!" Megan cried as she ran to the puppy.

"Hey, I didn't say a thing." Zatanna, whom Megan was talking to, raised her hands in defense when Conner glared at her.

"Don't play word games with a magician," Wally stage whispered to Kal on Superboy's other side.

The whole team, sans Robin, was in the training room waiting on Black Canary.

Conner looked over to Artemis who apparently told Kalur about Ace. She was trying to look cool with Raquel as the two watched Wally, Zan and Megan gush all over the baby German Shepard. He wondered briefly who told her, but as they all now seemed to know, it didn't really matter.

"Everyone, leave Ace alone and get ready for combat training." Canary's voice rang over everyone's heads.

"Wait, how do you know his name?" Wally asked.

"Batman already informed me." Canary raised a brow. Conner vaguely remembered the team's dispatcher mentioning Canary and Superman the day before.

"Why would he do that?" Megan asked.

"Cause it's Batman's dog," Artemis shrugged as she followed Black Canary's almost forgotten order.

"Wait, really?" Raquel looked surprised. "I just thought that Superboy brought in another stray?" She asked.

"It's not Batman's dog, it's going to be Robin's," Superboy explained, trying to think of a place to put the dog so he won't wander off.

"Oh! Can I hold him while you're training?" Megan asked, her eyes looking so hopeful. Conner looked at Canary to make sure it was okay, and after a small nod from the team's trainer he slowly handed Ace to the alien girl. He stood close at first so Ace could jump to him if he didn't like Megan. But in almost no time at all, the dog had warmed up to the girl and was already licking at her face. Megan was giggling as the others 'aww'd and those not affected just rolled their eyes.

"Can we get started on beating on each other already?" Artemis asked.

"Geez girl, what's got your chain in a knot?" Raquel asked with a small laugh. Seeing Arty grouchy and ready to cause pain wasn't abnormal and everyone knew how to handle it.

"Stupid school field trip," the archer grumbled. "I was disqualified because I didn't raise money enough during the fundraiser."

"Why didn't you come to us? We could have helped?" Wally asked. He was currently trying to stay on the girl's good side as the two haven't really fought in a while.

"I don't know, would you have bought a case of crappy, sugar free, low fat, no sodium chocolate bars, made with artificial chocolate for twenty bucks a pop?" Artemis asked, "During the Madagascar mission?" She put her finger up just as Kid Flash was about to say something.

"Um, good point." Wally scratched the back of his head.

"Alright, talk over, let's get to work. I have a new move for you all to try," Canary called out. "Artemis, Conner, I want you two up first."

* * *

Conner was sore after training, or he felt like he should be, and therefore was mentally. He was dragging his feet a bit as he carried a squirming Ace back to his room. The puppy and been held the entire time, passed around by each member of the team as they all had to train. Zan had tried making a small pin at one point so that he could be put down for a while, but he kept finding a way out and none of them could figure out how. Appropriate for a dog of the Bat-Family.

The clone opened his door lazily to see the glaring face of Wolf. He had locked the big dog in the room without even realizing. Conner instantly felt guilt and put Ace on his bed to give his attention to Wolf.

"I'm so sorry fella, I didn't mean to I swear!" He started scratching the back of Wolf's ears and sides. After a bit of petting, Wolf seemed to have forgiven him, mostly, and Conner figured he could make it up by taking Wolf outside.

"Come on, I bet you would like to run about a bit, huh?" He asked. He went to grab Ace off the bed, but the puppy was missing. "Ace?" He called.

"ACE!?"

Conner might not have flight, but he flew down the hall calling the smaller pup. Wolf simply glared at his boy before making his way toward the back without Kon.

"Megan!" Conner almost ran into his girlfriend. "Have you seen Ace?" He asked her.

"Um, no, but I could help you look for him?" She offered. Conner nodded and went back to running down halls. He checked every open door he saw and ran into Kaldur and Raquel at one point. He didn't even notice that he might have interrupted something, but didn't care either way. They had also offered to help locate the missing puppy, Kal a little more enthusiastically than Raquel.

Conner was in a panic until he noticed there was a torn up cushion on the living room floor. The cotton stuffing scattered about it told Conner that it was animal, and as Wolf was trained better than that, he knew it could only be one suspect; the same canine that was the cause of his now torn to hell shoes. The small tuffs of white stuffing made a small trail to the kitchen that Conner followed. When there, he saw that something was spilled, looked grape juice, and small puddle tracks were made around the small island and back out the kitchen. Conner knew he had to be close, the tracks were fresh. He tried to think what would Robin do in this situation, and he thought to the cameras in the mountain. But Conner didn't really know the first thing about hacking computers! Down load stuff, sure. Surf the web, yeah alright. Hack into highly protected and top secret security cameras designed for and by a group of genius and paranoid vigilantes? Yeah. No. Not happening.

Conner sighed. He might as well start calling for the pup again.

"Ace! Common, man, you're making me worried," Conner spoke loudly, hoping Ace would at least make a noise.

"Lose Robin's birthday present?" Wally asked, suddenly appearing next to Conner, though not so suddenly as Conner heard him running up from behind him.

"Yeah, he ran off when I was paying attention to Wolf," Conner mumbled.

"Ah. Attention needy siblings. Well, cousins, sorta. Maybe I should watch after Ace while you hang with Wolf for a bit," Wally offered.

"If we can find him," Conner pointed out. Ace was still missing and He had next to no clue where to look next.

"Well, maybe we could ask the other's to help us find him?" Wally suggested.

"I've already asked Megan, Kaldur'ahm, and Raquel," Superboy said as he started to back down the hall he came from.

"Well then, we'll go ask Artemis and Zatanna then." Wally put a hand on Kon's shoulder. "Don't worry, Dude, we'll find him."

Conner and Wally walked together toward Zatanna's room hoping she was there. There was a bit of whispering from behind the door when the boy's knocked.

"Zan? Have you seen Ace?" Wally called through the door, which opened slowly.

The door opened all the way to show Artemis drenched in water and with her hands on her hips, not looking happy, and Zatanna with an amused grin on her face, holding a slightly damp and extremely happy Ace.

"Take it, and keep it away," Artemis growled. Ace yipped at her with his tail wagging, trying to get to her from Zan.

"She says this, but they have been cuddling for almost half an hour after his bath," Zatanna chuckled, handing the hyper puppy to his guardian.

"But he's only been missing fifteen minutes?" Conner checked the clock on Zatanna's shelf to make certain.

"She's exaggerating. That's all that sentence was, one big exaggeration! I wasn't even 'cuddling' with him, I had to pin him down to dry him off!" Artemis screeched before arching past him and down the hall, Ace yipping happily after her.

"They were so cuddling." Zan smirked at the boys as the blond marched off.

* * *

Conner now had Ace's leash on him at almost all times. It was the first time he had to go to Black Canary in regards of getting something for Ace. She gave him a card to go to the store with, it was completely black with sliver number codes and an bat symbol where the names should have been. He had taken Megan with him and they made a sort of date out of the affair. By the end of the shopping trip, they had gotten a new leash, a couple new toys, special puppy treats, and a squirt bottle for disciplinary use. When they returned, they handed the card back to Canary and the two took the items, and the pup, back to Conner's room

Wolf was yet again sulking in the corner and ignoring Superboy. But the teen figured that he would have to make it up to him when Robin came back. He had been trying, and failing to make an efficient pin from surrounding items to keep the puppy caged, but in the end he simply grabbed Wally and put him in charge of Ace while Conner took a shower.

The next few hours went pretty smooth, the team each took a turn watching Ace, Conner got to spend some time with Wolf, and then they had training. It was all going just fine, until Batman came in with a mission briefing. It was a simple recon, as they are always _suppose_ to be, and every member was expected to go. This of course lead to Conner pleading that either Black Canary or Red Tornado watch Ace. The two team guardians had shared a glance before reluctantly agreeing.

While their trace record for keeping recon missions strictly recon, they actually managed not to get into too much trouble with this one. In the end, they weren't seen nor caught, though it was mainly due to Rocket having to set off a small chain of explosions that covered their other wise obvious tracks and disoriented those that _almost_ saw who it was that sabotaged the chemical study that was already almost finished. And since they weren't really caught, Batman only gave them a brief lecture about destroying necessary evidence over the comlink on their way back to the cave.

The team was in high spirits until they made it back to the mountain to see a war zone. The place was trashed and the two older heroes were no where to be found. Until they saw Black Canary on the living room floor slowly regaining consciousness.

"Canary! What happened?" Wally asked as she zipped over to her and helped her up.

"That dog, will fit in perfectly, with that family," She ground out between her teeth. Instantly everyone knew the basics or what had transpired. Ace; the Bat's dog, was proving to everyone how he was _meant_ to be adopted by Batman and Robin.

"Isn't today the last day before Robin gets here?" Megan asked.

"Yeah. Tomorrow and the day after we'll have to try and keep Ace away from him without Robin finding out," Conner explained in dismay. Robin was _so_ going to find out, and Batman will never trust Conner with a secret again.

"Don't worry! I have an idea!" Zatanna exclaimed.

"Yeah? What?" Raquel asked, crossing her arms. Zatanna gave an evil grin toward Artemis, who seemed to have sensed where the sorceress was going with this and was already down the hall.

"I'm heading home, good luck and fortune to all your endeavors and may you leave me out of it," she called, not even sparing them a glance as she left.

"Coward!" Zan called after her, just before the archer disappeared through the tubes. "Well, there went my idea."

"We could try splitting up and finding Ace." Kaldur suggested. "We can spend the time we are looking to think of a solution as well." the team's leader suggested. The team agreed on the decision unanimously.

"Hey, um, where'd Canary go?" Raquel asked the others. They all glanced around to see their trainer had left.

"Welp, that's two down," Zan muttered.

"Oh great, say it like that, why don't you? Cause that's not foreboding at _all,_ " Wally whined.

"Enough talking, we need to find Ace," Conner growled, marching down the hallway looking for any trace of the pup.

* * *

Zatanna was checking every room that the door was opened to, until she realized that everyone was opening doors and while some left the doors opened, some would close them after a brief inspection. She rolled her eyes and started over, putting a small sign made with a bit of scratch paper on the doors with the words 'Checked and Cleared- leave closed ~Z'. The other's seemed to have caught onto her system if the small notes 'Cleared of Suspicion ~R', 'No Life Detected ;) ~MM', and 'No Doggy in this Window ~KF' told her anything. When she felt herself get hungry she made her way to the living room. There she found Rocket sitting on the couch watching tv.

"Taking a break?" Zatanna asked popping a frozen burrito in the microwave.

"I'm done looking for the dog. The Metropolis Sharks are going against the Gotham Knights and I have money hanging on this game." Raquel waved her friend off as the teams started their next play.

"And then there were fiv-," Zatanna was about to make her joke with a small smile before Wally sped by and plopped himself next to Raquel.

"The sharks versus the Knights?" He asked, bowl of popcorn in his lap.

"Yep," Raquel replied before snatching some of his treat.

"Sweet!"

"Four. Then there were four," Zan corrected herself in a deadpan and a bland look at the speedster.

"Hey, I've check this place top to bottom, twice. I couldn't find him!" Wally defended himself.

"Sure." Zatanna rolled her eyes before she grabbed her heated burrito and walked off. It was now just her, Megan, Conner and Kaldur'ahm looking for the lost pet. She walked into the Library, messy with throw pages proving Ace had been there, and saw Kaldur in a chewed on wing-back chair absorbed in a book with Megan on the other side of the room picking up papers. Zan sighed and closed the door, placing one of her signs on the door. Two. There were only two of the team members looking for Robin's dog. Zatanna sighed and made her way to her room. "Doog Kcul Yobrepus." She muttered as she opened her own book and started reading, cuddled up on her bed.

* * *

Conner couldn't find Ace, and now he was about to freak out. There wasn't a single door that wasn't tagged with one of the other's notes. Conner had checked the mountain over three times and now was close to ripping his hair out of his head. Conner paced his room, giving up for him wasn't as easy as it was for everyone else. They weren't the ones that Batman was going to grill alive when he finds the dog disappeared. The mountain was still trashed and no one had heard from Red or Canary since they came back. Conner fell onto his bed, finally willing to give up and accept his fate. Wolf pawed at his door and Conner got up to let the poor dog in.

When he did, a flood of relief and streams of tears poured from his eyes. Wolf had found Ace and the sleeping puppy was being held by the scruff of his neck, snoring quietly as the white canine moved into the room and put the small black dog on his pillow gently.

"Good boy Wolf!" Conner sobbed as he knelt by his loyal friend and embraced Wolf in a tight hug. He would later deny ever acting this way, but one tends to act extremely out of character when one has come so close to losing one's life to Batman.

The hero of the day sat tall as he allowed his recently neglectful boy show the gratitude owed to him.

* * *

The next day, Batman had come to the cave with Robin right behind him. He had intended to make a visit to the mountain without the boy before Dick returned from his school field trip, but the boy had arrived home early and was desperate to see his friends again as soon as possible. Bruce couldn't think of a good enough reason to keep Robin from going with, so he just hoped that Superboy was able to hide the canine before Robin saw it.

The delusion of that possibility was diminished when the Dynamic Duo surveyed the state the cave was in.

"Holy Shi-erm Shreaded Cushions, Batman!" Robin barely managed to avoid getting in trouble for swearing, yet again. "What happened?" He looked to his mentor. Just then a yipping puppy ran down the hall as fast as it's small legs would allow.

"Awww, what a cutie!" Robin's grin went wide as knelt to receive the dog. "I guess Conner picked up another stray. You gonna let him keep 'm?" Robin asked looking up at Batman hopefully. Bruce had to actually force himself not to smile.

"No," He said. He knew it should be wrong to want to chuckle at someone's smile falling so quickly, especially Dick's, but he knew that it only meant the grin that would shine at him when the boy learned why would be that much brighter.

"But-," Robin started

"Let's find the team and figure out what has happened here," Batman cut him off and strode down the hall. Robin quietly and dejectedly followed, holding tight to the baby German shepherd that was trying to lick the boy's face back into a smile.

He found the team in the living room, passed out in one giant dog pile in the middle of a mess Bruce was certain even Alfred would cringe at the prospect of cleaning. Was that really all the dog?

"Team, report," He ordered, startling a couple of the young heroes awake. Though he didn't really anticipate Kid Flash to be wakened so easily, Zatanna's continued slumber was slightly unexpected.

"Batman," Superboy was alert immediately, his eyes traveled over the dark knight's shoulder and widened. "Robin!" A yip grabbed his attention and Conner looked like his world just shattered. "Ace."

"It's alright, Conner," Batman decided. He was being unrealistic in thinking they could keep it from Robin, but this was just ridiculous, maybe he should have settled for a gold fish instead?

"What? So you're going to let him keep the dog?" Robin asked hopeful. Everyone in the pile that heard it had to chuckle. "What?" Robin asked.

"I'm not keeping him." Conner looked to Batman who nodded back to the boy. "He's a gift. I was just watching him for a friend of mine."

"Oh? Who?" Robin didn't seem quiet as sad with that explanation, but it was obvious by the look on his face he was sad the puppy was leaving.

"You," Conner grinned.

"What?" Robin looked surprised, but not happy.

"What's wrong? You don't want the dog?" Rocket asked, by now Kid Flash and Zatanna were waking up.

"No, I do, it's just. I'm not allowed to have pets. Bats said -"

"It's _from_ Bats, we were just looking after him," Wally explained blurry eyed.

"What?" Robin asked again, this time a hug grin on his face. He turned to Batman. "Is that true?"

"Happy Birthday," was all the man had to say on the matter. With that Robin was dancing about the room with the little black puppy in his hands.

"Those two: made for each other," Zatanna muttered resting her chin in her hand from her place on the floor.

"Oh! We can hold a Birthday Party! I could bake a cake!" Megan smiled with the idea.

"No. We are going to go back to Gotham, you six have a mountain to clean." Batman crossed his arms, this made everyone groan.

_Recognize Artemis b07_

Everyone's eyes went to the blond with bad timing that had just walked down the hall. "Um, hey, what's up?" Artemis asked, suddenly feeling very self conscious.

Batman couldn't help the small quirk to his lips, thankfully so small only Robin could have seen it if the boy wasn't busy jumping about with the dog.

"Seven," He stated before leading Robin back to the Zeta beams.

"Artemis! Look! I have a new dog!" Robin bounded up to her and was shouting in his excitement.

"Arent' you usually more mature than this?" She asked with a quirk of her brow.

"But, puppy!" Robin pouted lifting the dog up to her face. Ace took this opportunity to start licking her.

"Yeah, I know, I got to give the beast a bath," Artemis muttered as she took a step back and crossed her arms.

"Then she cuddled with him!" Zatanna called from the just now dispersing pile of heroes.

"Zan!" Artemis cried out.

Robin chuckled as he caught up to his mentor.

"So you happy with your gift?" Bruce asked.

"Extremely," Dick beamed, Ace yipping in agreement in his arms.


End file.
